Present mix up
by loulabelle90
Summary: Uther and Merlin's birthday are in the same week and Arthur accidently mixes the presents up. Modern AU and SLASH  -Arthur/Merlin.Based on a prompt given to by my Beta Owensheart.


**Present Mix Up**

This fic came from a prompt from my amazing Beta Owensheart – Merlin and Uther's birthday fall in the same week so Arthur goes out to buy them both gifts, unfortunately the gifts are wrapped the same and somehow Arthur ends up giving the wrong gift for the wrong person. Arthur discovers this when Merlin opens his present and he realises that Uther has Merlins present. Uther's present being something practical whilst Merlin's is something naughty (Uther not knowing that Arthur is gay).

I do not own Merlin or any of it's characters.

It was the week of both Merlin's and Uther's birthday and Arthur had brought and wrapped presents for his father and his secret lover. The two presents had been safely hidden inside the cupboard until they were needed.

Merlin's birthday was a couple of days after Uther's, but since the man was away on business he hadn't opened his birthday present yet meaning that Merlin was the first one to get his.

For some reason Arthur insisted that Merlin open his present now, which was quite unusual as he normally made Merlin wait until the birthday party that they would be having with their friends later.

"I don't know why it is so important that I open my present now," Merlin stated in slight confusion as Arthur handed him his present.

"It isn't really something that you can open in front of other people," Arthur explained. "Besides you normally moan at me for making you wait, shouldn't you be happy that you don't have to wait.

"I suppose," Merlin agreed as he started to open his present, he was secretly quite happy that he didn't have to wait for his present. Not that he would tell Arthur that, it was his birthday and he could annoy his boyfriend if he wanted to.

"Do you like it?" Arthur asked excitedly, though he was also wondering why his wasn't blushing like he expected Merlin to. His boyfriend usually started to blush whenever sex was mentioned, which was quite often since they were both quite close friend with Gwaine.

"Yeah it's great," Merlin replied, though Arthur noticed that he didn't seem so excited about his gift. "Why couldn't I open my present at the party? There isn't really anything inappropriate about a diary is there?"

"Not really," Arthur agreed before he realised exactly what Merlin had said. "What do you mean a diary? I didn't buy you a diary Merlin; I know that you would never use it."

"Well it definitely looks like a diary to me," Merlin stated as he picked up the red book out of the box, Arthur was horrible at wrapping up and he usually avoided it whenever he could. "I know that you think I'm a total idiot but I do know what a diary is."

"Oh shit," Arthur muttered as he realised what must have happened. "I am so dead! I must have gotten the presents mixed up, that means that my Father has your gift, he is going to kill me."

"It's not that bad," Merlin tried to reassure his boyfriend. "When is his birthday? Do we have time to switch the presents back?"

"His birthday was a couple of days ago" Arthur informed Merlin. "The only reason that he hasn't opened his present yet was because he is away on business. He is due to be getting back sometime today, but I have no idea what time."

"What did you buy me that would be so bad for your father to open?" Merlin inquired. "Couldn't you just explain to Uther that there was a mix up with the presents and that it wasn't meant for him? I would understand that, wouldn't he?"

"That isn't exactly the problem," Arthur replied as he grabbed his coat and shoes and started to put them on. "I brought you some stuff for the bedroom; I thought that we could spice up our sex life a little bit. Not that there is anything wrong with it or anything."

"What kind of stuff?" Merlin asked, he was curious about what his boyfriend had got him for his birthday.

"Just a couple new toys for our collection as well as some new lube," Arthur answered. "Though that isn't really important at the moment, all that matters is that we get the present back before he opens it."

"He will know that the person wasn't for him," Merlin stated as he tried to calm his boyfriend down. "Besides it would solve the problem of telling him about us, wouldn't it. You can't keep this from him forever."

"I know that!" Arthur snapped before he instantly felt guilty for yelling at Merlin. "I'm so sorry Merlin, it isn't your fault. I'm just worried about how my Father will react; I wanted to gently let him know that I was gay. Without him seeing our new sex toys."

"Well let's go then," Merlin stated as he got his own shoes and coat on whilst Arthur placed the book back into the box. "We should probably go now if we are going to stop Uther in time."

The pair quickly grabbed the present and headed over to the Pendragon Manor where Uther lived. They let themselves in and went straight to Uther's office where Arthur had left the present.

"I thought that you would be getting here soon," Uther stated as Arthur and Merlin burst into his office, if it was any one else Arthur would have sworn that he looked amused.

"I'm so sorry father," Arthur blurted out. "There was a mix up with the presents."

"I figured out that for myself" Uther replied before he turned slightly to look at Merlin. "I'm guessing that this is for Merlin then."

"Yeah it is," Arthur replied before he thought about what his father had said. "How did you know that the gift was for Merlin?"

"Well I know that it is Merlin's birthday today, Morgana is going to the party later," Uther stated. "So I assumed that the gift would be for him and then obviously there is the fact that he is your boyfriend."

"How do you know that?" Arthur asked. "I was planning to tell you but I just didn't know how."

"Everyone knows about your relationship" Uther stated. "I'm actually more shocked that you actually believed that you had kept it secret, I thought I taught you better than that."

"Are you ok with our relationship?" Arthur asked, he hated the idea that he had to choose between Uther and Merlin.

"Does it look like I have a problem with your relationship?" Uther asked. "I've known about it for months and I haven't done anything to try and break you up. Though I have to admit that I do think that you are an idiot Merlin but you make my son happy so I am willing to put up with it."

"Don't worry about that sir," Merlin replied happily. "Arthur agrees with you on that one and I think that Arthur is a prat."

"I think you have a point there," Uther stated, he would never admit it but he actually liked Merlin and believed that he was good for his son. "I will see you both for Sunday lunch this week, and don't be late."

"We won't," Arthur replied. "I'll see you then father, goodbye."

"Goodbye Mr Pendragon," Merlin said as he and Arthur turned around to leave the room and head back to their apartment.

"Merlin," Uther called out as Merlin was just about to leave. "You forgot your present."

"Thank you" Merlin replied as he went back to took his birthday present from Uther.

"You're welcome," Uther said. "Oh and by the way Happy Birthday."

"Thank you" Merlin smiled. "Happy Birthday for a couple of days ago."

"That was fun" Merlin stated later on as he and Arthur sat down in order to relax after the party.

"Yeah it was," Arthur agreed. "Though I still can't believe that my Father both knows about and accepts our relationship, I was so sure that he was going to kill me when he found out."

"He loves you and wants you to be happy," Merlin stated. "Besides he has had months to get used to the idea and we have no idea of how he reacted when he found out."

"I suppose," Arthur muttered in agreement. "I'm so glad that I wasn't there when it happened, there is no way that he didn't react badly when he first found out. Morgana probably got him to calm down about it and didn't tell me because she knew how much I was stressing over it."

"That does seem like something that she would do," Merlin replied. "But none of that is important, what is important is the fact that I love you and there is nothing that anyone could do to change that, even Uther Pendragon."

"Yeah, you are probably too much of an idiot for any of his threats to work against you" Arthur laughed. "This is something that I am so happy about because I would hate it if I ever lost you. I love you too Merlin. Now let's head upstairs, we've got some new toys to play with."

P.S – If anyone has any more prompts for me it would be much appreciated. At this moment I am doing Merlin, Torchwood and Harry Potter. I prefer Slash and no sex or death is allowed. Thank you for any help.

I will also be updating my other stories soon. The charger for my laptop broke and I've only just managed to get a new one, though I am glad that it's just the charger instead of the battery or even worse the whole laptop. I don't have enough money for a battery or a new laptop.

PLEASE REVIEW!


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